Why all the fuss over Arsenal on Christmas Eve?

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So it looks like Arsenal v Liverpool will be on Christmas Eve, likely to be a kick off between 12:30-1:30 live on Sky. And I have conflicted feelings on the matter.

When I first heard that Sky were planning to play the fixture on Christmas Eve, my first thought was how is this allowed to happen, it just is not fair, once again TV companies show a disdain for fans, expecting them to be away from their families on Christmas Eve. I feel this view was mirrored by many reading here.

Arsenal fan pressure groups, alongside groups from other clubs and the Football Fans Federation got together to lobby the Premier League over a Christmas Eve game.

I was vocal in a Whatsapp group over my opinion. Games should not be played on Christmas Eve. Then one of my pals put across an argument which has swayed my opinion which chipped away at my argument.

Christmas Eve is usually a working day. So where is the argument that playing a game on Christmas Eve will split up the family? Yes, this year it falls on a Sunday, but usually on Christmas Eve, parents would be at work on Christmas Eve. Those with a nice boss finishing at lunch (and heading straight to the pub), those with a horrible boss finishing at 5:30.

So is there any difference between being home at 5pm Christmas Eve having been at work all day, and being at home Christmas Eve at 5pm having been at the football? Probably not.

But think about the staff who have to work. Yes, stewards, catering staff, ball boys, etc, are going to have to work Christmas Eve. But is this any difference from me, a Recruitment Consultant, having to work Christmas Eve the majority of the time? Or having to be in between Christmas and New Year. Christmas Eve is not a public holiday.

But the trains, the trains. There are plenty of trains back from Liverpool fans. Their journey to and from London will be a lot easier than what Arsenal fans faced earlier this season. Trains will run from Euston to Liverpool until 7:05pm, getting home at 21:28. With the game set to be done by 3:30 at the latest, there are plenty of trains home.

Boxing Day games are actually a lot more problematic for trains. I recall a few years ago we played Southampton away on Boxing Day. I was with family in Suffolk. To get to London, it would have taken 3 trains and a replacement bus. Then South West Trains were also running nothing out of Waterloo, so after 3 hours of getting to London, I would then have been unable to continue my journey on to Southampton due to lack of trains.

GC often bores everyone telling his story of how it once took him 4 hours to get home once Boxing Day from Selhurst Park to his Grandparents in Romford.

Even for games in Islington on Boxing Day, those living in Herts, Essex, Bucks, Berks, Kent and other Home Counties would have a nightmare journey for the game. A home game. Yet this is considered acceptable.

The argument of there being no trains on Christmas Eve is nonsensical as there are trains. Everyone can get home.

Sky are killing football with games over Christmas. This will not be the first time games have been held on Christmas Eve. There was a time, way before Sky, that games were held on Christmas Day.

Maybe instead of complaining about the game on Christmas Eve, we should embrace it? Fathers can take their sons to a game the night before Christmas. Almost an early Christmas present. That is a great opportunity to share the festive spirit.

And how many of you moaning about a Christmas Eve game usually go out with your work mates on Christmas Eve. The 1pm finish means 4/5 hours in the pub before going home. You do not care about family time then.

How many more of you go out on the beer all night on Christmas Eve, regardless of there being football on or not. I imagine most of us have done it, especially in the younger days. Gone out all night, a big booze up, before heading home in the early hours of Christmas Day. Then spending most of Christmas Morning trying to mask the hangover.

Over the years, Sky have screwed over fans. Late Sunday kick offs. Games moved to 8pm on a Bank Holiday Monday. Arsenal playing Liverpool on Christmas Eve Lunch is not one of these times.

Keenos

Idiot Arsenal fans celebrate losing to Watford

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Almost as disappointing as Saturday’s defeat to Watford was reading through various Facebook pages and Twitter timelines seeing some Arsenal fans happy that Arsenal had lost.

There was some fans, it felt reading their comments, who were almost celebrating Arsenal losing. Celebrating as it suiting their agenda. Whether it be against Wenger, the board, or whoever.

Arsenal fans delighted about Arsenal losing.

Let’s get one thing right, if you want Arsenal to lose, if you are ever happy they lost, if you celebrate a defeat, you are not an Arsenal fan.

I constantly see people saying Its Arsenal FC, Not Arsene FC and they are correct, I support Arsenal, not Arsene. However, there are fans out there who say this, yet refuse to support Arsenal due to Arsene being the manager. They fail to see the irony.

These people are not Arsenal supporters. Hoping your team loses is a direct contradiction to what the definition of supporter is. By wanting Arsenal to lose, you are not supporting Arsenal, you are refusing to back the club because of your agenda against the manager.

It is Arsenal FC, Not Arsene FC.

I, like many, want Arsene Wenger to leave Arsenal. He should have probably gone in 2014 after the FA Cup win over Hull City. He most certainly should not have been offered a new contract in the last summer. But he is here, and whilst I am unhappy he is still at Arsenal, it will not stop me supporting Arsenal.

There is a feeling that in some peoples eyes, you should not be able to celebrate a win if you do not think Wenger should be at the club. You get labelled a flip flop. Labelled something because you are happy that Arsenal won. OK.

I actually feel for these people. Unable to celebrate a win. Always moaning. Always complaining. There lives must be full of so much negativity, they must be so angry all the time. That chip on their shoulder gets so much bigger every time Arsenal win.

He is some news for you. You can be upset about the state of the club at the moment, but you can also celebrate Arsenal winning. Just like you can be happy with the state of things, but be equally frustrated when we lose.

You do not have to be happy all the time, or angry all the time. The majority of the time are in the middle. They are happy when we win, angry when we lose. It is only those on the fringes, the fair right and fair left of the fan base, who are unable to be happy or angry because it does not suit their agenda.

One oddity I have read is people saying the worst thing that happened to the club is winning 3 FA Cups in 4 years.

So let me get this right, you want #WengerOut due to a persevered lack of success, then you say winning trophies is the worst thing that happened to the club.

I imagine those that say this do not go to games. They have not made 9 trips to Wembley in a little over 3 years. They do not have mates. They sit at home watching on their illegal streams, typing angrily on Facebook when we win.

All 3 FA Cup’s were brilliant. Fantastic weekends out with the mates. 48 hours of drinking and celebrating, If you think winning trophies is the worst thing that can happen to a football club, maybe you need to take up another hobby?

Going for circle, the fact that people are celebrating us losing does show how poor a state or club and our fanbase is. But if you were happy on Sunday, skipping around your communal garden, then you are not an Arsenal no. The funny thing is, most of these people have a picture of themselves on their Facebook AVI or Twitter AVI with themselves in the latest Arsenal shirt.

Idiots, the lot of them

Keenos

Did Troy Deeney show his “cojones” when he kicked defenceless student in the head?

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“I have to watch what I say, but it’s [having] a bit of cojones, is what I’ll say. Whenever I play against Arsenal, I’ll go up and think ‘let me whack the first one and see who wants it.’

I wonder if this is what Troy Deeney, then 23, kicked a student in the head on the 29 February 2012.

In June of that year, the then Championship football was jailed for 10 months.

The Watford striker was recorded by CCTV cameras kicking one of the victims in the head.

One man suffered a broken jaw and another required 20 stitches as a result of the brawl in Broad Street.

Deeney, admitted affray and was sentenced along with three other men at Birmingham Crown Court.

They included Deeney’s younger brother Ellis, 21, of Polar Avenue, Chelmsley Wood; Oliver Brennan, 20, from Hazel Croft, Chelmsley Wood; and 26-year-old Marc Williams, of Stonebridge Crescent in Kingshurst.

They had all pleaded guilty to affray.

Judge David Tomlinson said CCTV footage of the attack, which happened close to the Bliss nightclub on 29 February, showed the roles of Troy Deeney and Brennan were more serious than the other defendants.

In the 30-second video clip, the pair could be seen kicking out at the “defenceless” students, one of whom received repeated blows to the head as he lay injured on the ground.

The judge told the defendants: “Three men in particular were singled out for what can only be described as a gratuitous beating.

“All four of you to a greater or lesser degree joined in but the effect of it was that these three men, who were already heavily outnumbered, became even more so as a result of what you all did.

“At least one kicked a man while he was already on the ground and very probably had already suffered a really serious injury.”

Prosecutor David Lees said one student, who had suffered a broken jaw, might require plastic surgery because of the scars on his face and continued to suffer from flashbacks.

 

A month after the attack, Deeney was given a 12-month extension to his contract by Watford.

Here is the thing about Troy Deeney, he is a convicted violent thug. He will claim to be reformed, but his comments about “whack the first one and see who wants it.” show that he has probably not changed.

Whilst Watford did get one over Arsenal yesterday, Deeney’s comment about cojones is laughable.

The team without cojones have won 3 FA Cups in 4 years. Troy Deeney has won nothing.  Nowt. Zilch. Give me someone like Per Mertesacker or Mesut Ozil, two serial winners who, 2 years after Troy Deeney was sentenced for his violent, sickening attack, were winning the World Cup.

Give me a team of winners like Arsenal, over Deeney’s team of thugs and losers any day.

Troy Deeney, nothing but an average footballer, a convicted thug. A man who kicked a student on the floor in Birmingham, probably to see who wanted.

Enjoy being a nobody living off your 15 minute performance against the mighty Arsenal, Troy. Hope you did not drop the soap too much in jail son.

Keenos